SEWANEE, Tenn. - Covenant men's tennis was upended twice on Saturday at Sewanee, losing to No. 22 Sewanee, 7-0, in their first match and then East Texas Baptist, 4-3, in their second match.

MATCH ONE: No. 22 Sewanee 7, Covenant 0

Covenant took on the No. 22 Sewanee Tigers in an early-season road test. The Scots battled but ultimately were unable to keep pace with the Tigers as they fell 7-0.

Despite not winning a match, Covenant was close on several courts as they gave their best shot against nationally ranked Sewanee. Ben Onufrock and reigning CCS player of the week Caleb Domkowski both pushed their matches to a third set before eventually losing.

Sewanee put the pressure on from the start as Drew Rukavina and Henry Hyden defeated Gavin Patton and Cameron Erb 6-1 at No. 3 doubles.

A single break of serve proved to be the difference at No. 1 and 2 doubles as Onufrock and Domkowski lost 6-4 to Andre Jakobi and Samuel Schroerlucke at the top spot. Graham Hayes and Brock Boehling dropped their set 6-3 to Sewanee's Max Verellen and Lucas Wrigley.

With limited court space, singles play opened with courts 1, 2, and 3. The first singles match to finish was at No. 3 as Schroerlucke upended Boehling 6-2, 6-3.

Lines 1 and 2 both went to deciding sets, but Onufrock fell at No. 1 singles (7-5, 3-6, 6-1) to Jakobi, and Domkowski dropped the No. 2 singles match (6-7(2), 6-0, 6-2) to Hyden. Hyden's victory clinched the match for the Tigers.

The next wave of singles saw Hayes (No. 4), Patton (No. 5), and Lincoln Shine (No. 6) competing for the Scots.

The first match to finish from this group was Patton, as he was defeated 6-0, 6-0 by Wrigley. Hayes was beaten by Verellen 7-6(4), 6-4, and Shine lost to Rukavina 6-3, 6-0 to finish off the match as Sewanee completed their first sweep of Covenant since 2023.

MATCH TWO: ETBU 4, Covenant 3

In their second match of the day, Covenant took on the East Texas Baptist Tigers. In what proved to be an extremely close match, the Scots were unable to hold on as ETBU came away with a 4-3 win.

ETBU raced out to a quick start in doubles as Jaco Snyman and Jacob Daniell knocked off Gavin Patton and Cameron Erb 6-0 to give the Tigers early momentum. Covenant needed both of the top two lines to take the doubles point, and that's exactly what they got.

Graham Hayes and Brock Boehling stole a late break of serve to knock off Erick Van Zyl and Mark Armbruster 6-4 to set the stage before Ben Onufrock and Caleb Domkowski held off Sam Black and Max Karseno with a 6-4 win to clinch the doubles point for the Scots.

Onufrock kept the momentum from doubles rolling as he cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Black at No. 1. The momentum turned at that point as ETBU evened the match at 2-2 as Armbruster defeated Boehling 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3, and Snyman knocked off Domkowski at No. 2 in a tight three-set match 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

With both teams needing two of the last three matches to clinch, it was the Tigers who came up with the goods. Karseno grabbed the first match as he defeated Patton 6-1, 6-0 at No. 5. Van Zyl was the clincher in the 4 slot as he beat Hayes 6-3, 6-4 in two tightly contested sets.

Lincoln Shine delivered one final point for the Scots as he beat Daniell in a thrilling match, 6-2, 3-6, 11-9. The freshman saved two match points on his way to victory.

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